As the RiverClan cats began to pack up their temporary camp, Rainstar went to find Apple, who had run away after Mantisflame, Honeyripple, and Pinefoot had beaten her.

Currently, Bearfrost was in the makeshift medicine den, resting his wounds. He wanted to help take down the dens so no cat could follow them, but Maplefern ordered him to stay in her den until it was time for them to leave.

"We need all of our cats as strong as possible if we're going to survive." The medicine cat had said.

"But-" Bearfrost had tried to object, but he was cut off by a stern look from Maplefern. Since then he had slept for a little while, but was mostly awake fiddling with a stray scrap of moss.

"It's time to leave. I trust you are feeling better?" Rainstar pushed his way into the small den.

"I've been feeling fine for a long time now, but Maplefern insisted that I should stay in her den until we leave."

"Well, you should've called for me. Anyhow, the Clan is ready to leave on my signal. Will you carry a few herbs for Maplefern and Dewpaw? I'm sure they'd appreciate it." Rainstar gestured towards a pile of herbs, indicating Bearfrost should take one. He moved over towards the pile, and gingerly picked up a tightly wrapped leaf, careful not to get its contents in his mouth.

Bearfrost took his leaf-wrap into the clearing, where all the cats of RiverClan were assembled.

Rainstar pushed his way to the front of the crowd, and announced, "We will leave as soon as Maplefern and her apprentice Dewpaw retrieve the last of their herbs. Prepare for the long journey ahead of us, for it will be the last time we will be this close to Clan territory, which means that we will be walking for a very long time."

Bearfrost looked wistfully at the horizon, facing his former home.

Rainstar is being so dramatic. Hurry up and let us leave already! A voice that did not seem entirely his own entered his head. I can't wait to be rid of this miserable territory. Bearfrost was astonished at his treacherous thoughts, and decided to ignore them for the time being.

"We've collected all the herbs we've brought, except one leaf-wrap. Does anyone know where the deathberry leaf-wrap is? If it gets into the wrong paws-" Maplefern's voice broke through the whispering in his head, and Bearfrost immediately dropped the leaf he was holding. "I-I have it." Bearfrost stuttered, shocked on the fact that if he had slipped, and a berry had gotten in his mouth, we would've been dead in moments.

"Bring it here." Maplefern sounded relieved, and Bearfrost picked up the leaf, trying not to bite it too hard so the juices wouldn't get in his mouth. He dropped it at the medicine cat's paws.

"Thank you for trying to help, but I think it would be better if you carried the dock leaves. That way you won't have to worry about being at the brink of death if you tilt your head up."

Maplefern's ominous but strangely cheerful words made him shiver, and he gratefully took the dock up in his jaws.

"Everyone ready? Good; let's head out." Rainstar flicked his tail, and the journeying cats set off once again.

"How are we supposed to get past that?" Astersun asked, her golden dappled pelt plastered to her sides as large raindrops lazily fell from the sky. She was staring up at a huge, snow-capped mountain, and Bearfrost shivered just from the sight of it.

"We'll have to make camp here until the rain stops, then we'll decide what to do. We've been traveling for almost two days since we left our first camp." Rainstar replied. He looked at Astersun, Chestnutstripe, Bubblerain, Tulipdust, Elmhaze, Blazespring, and Brookstep, and said, "Did you just appear from thin air? You haven't been mentioned ever in the book, not even on the first page! Why have you not made any appearances?"

"Because we were added to the book just so we could die, and to make RiverClan look larger." Brookstep replied. I'm going to fall off this mountain up here chasing a rabbit."

"And I'm going to die during a fox attack!" Tulipdust butted in, bouncing on her toes happily.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Now back to the book." Rainstar rolled his eyes.

"But where will we make camp!" Ivorytooth asked, sounding a bit fearful. "There isn't any undergrowth or shelter in sight!" Ivorytooth was right. There were only trees surrounding them, and short, stubby grass under their paws.

"And there aren't any rivers anywhere! How will we hunt!" Elmhaze fretted.

"I think I have an idea." Bearfrost smiled inwardly as he remembered the training he had gotten when he was an apprentice. He listened closely for the sound of small birds, and followed his ears until he found a large nest, high in a tree.

He quickly climbed up its trunk, using his hind claws to scrabble at the bark while his front paws grasped for paw-holds. Eventually he was eye level with the nest, and he scooped two small fledglings out, and scrambled back down the tree.

He placed the baby birds at his paws, and waited, panting. Eventually, he could hear the parents of these birds return to the nest, to find their chicks gone. Bearfrost could sense his Clanmates watching him in wonder, and Rainstar fondly gazed at his former apprentice.

The full grown birds, which were almost twice the size of Pearlpaw, spotted Bearfrost and their children almost immediately.

They dove down at him with a fierce intensity, one after the other.

Bearfrost stuck out with his paws, neatly slicing open the first bird's throat, a spray of dark red blood splattering the ground and his claws.

Right after the first bird fell to the ground, the second one hurtled down towards him at incredible speeds. This time, he wasn't ready for the attack and the bird pecked him hard on his cheek, aiming for his eyes. Bearfrost blindly swept his paws around, keeping his eyelids shut to protect his delicate green eyes.

He felt the bird make contact with his paw, and heard it fall to the ground. He opened his eyes to see the large bird struggling to fly away. He quickly bent down and nipped its neck, embarrassed that he had closed his eyes while the bird was attacking.

Bearfrost picked up both dead birds in his mouth, having to stretch his jaws wide open to fit them both.

"Well done, Bearfrost." Rainstar's warm mew sounded from behind Bearfrost. He spun around, and saw Rainstar sitting beside Blazespring. Rainstar had become quite close with the creamy she-cat since they had left the lake, and most of their Clan suspected that they would become mates someday.

Bearfrost dropped the bird in front of his leader, and sat down.

"Would you like me to teach other cats how to do the technique?" He offered.

"First off, I was the one who taught you how to do that," Rainstar's eyes glittered with fondness and mischief. "But, alas, I must pass the teaching on to younger cats." Rainstar smiled, and nodded approval. Bearfrost gratefully nodded back, and asked the Clan, "Who wants to learn the move that I just performed to help feed the Clan?"

"We do! We do!" All of the apprentices except Dewpaw called out.

"As do I." Pinefoot stepped forwards.

In the end, Pinefoot, Gorsepaw, Patchpaw, and Pearlpaw, Honeyripple, Bubblerain, Astersun, Mintbreeze, Rockwhisker, Mantisflame, Brookstep, and Sandfang all followed Bearfrost deeper into the woodland, while the rest of the cats stayed behind and feasted on the two birds that Bearfrost had caught.

Eventually, they made it to a thickly wooded stretch of land, and Bearfrost brought his patrol of thirteen cats, including himself, to a halt in front of a tree with many branches.

"This looks like a good place to start." Bearfrost made every cat sit in a crescent moon shape, so he could see all of them at once, and all of them could see him.

"Everyone ready?" Bearfrost asked before he began explaining the moves. All the cats nodded, and he started to instruct his Clanmates.

"First, you need to find a tree with a birds' nest in it. For now, I'll demonstrate without a real nest. So, who here knows how to climb trees?" Bearfrost gazed around his own little Clan of cats, feeling like their leader.

We would be called 'OakClan' and we would only eat birds. He shooed the thought away when Pearlpaw called out, "I can!"

"Then show everyone how it's done." Bearfrost moved aside to give Pearlpaw a clear path to the tree he was sitting beside.

The apprentice ran towards the tree, got distracted by a ladybug buzzing through the air, and rammed into the oak hard enough to shake the whole tree.

"Are you alright?" Bubblerain asked, concern lacing her voice.

"I'm fine… Just a bit… Dizzy…" Pearlpaw responded dreamily.

"Bearfrost, can I take her to Maplefern? I want to get her checked out." Bubblerain helped Pearlpaw stand up, acutely noticing her extra toes.

"Of course." Bearfrost replied. The kind she-cat let Pearlpaw lean on her shoulder as she led the apprentice away.

"Now," Bearfrost said jokingly. "Who else wants to try? Or do you want me to show all of you?"

"Show us, please!" Gorsepaw shouted, and Bearfrost purred.

"So you find a tree with a birds' nest in it, then you climb the tree, like this." Bearfrost began using his front claws to find pawholds, while his back paws pushed him upwards.

Bearfrost began to swiftly ascend the tree using branches to get higher and higher, until he was at the very top, his head poking out of the leaves.

"If you're hunting for nests, birds wouldn't nest up here. They usually go down under the cover of the leaves, so they don't get rained on." Bearfrost shouted to the cats far below him.

"I wish we could live in trees so we wouldn't get rained on." Sandfang mumbled as a particularly large drop of water landed on his nose. It was almost pouring now, and all of them were completely soaked.

"Don't be ridiculous! We're RiverClan cats, remember? Or have you already forgotten our heritage?" Bearfrost scolded the older warrior, confused on how quickly his Clanmates were beginning to dislike water as much as the other Clans.

To be a RiverClan cat, we have to have a river near us. I guess not being close to water for a while makes us like ThunderClan or WindClan. Both of them get squeamish around water.

"Can we keep training now?" Patchpaw rolled his eyes at his departing littermate. His gray and black fur fluffed up against the rain, and Bearfrost nodded in agreement.

"So after you get up to the birds' nest, you have to reach into it with one paw and gently…"